We always feel at ease and relaxed when we are inside of our Fun Factory. We can sit here and pick an item to stare at (even a joystick!) and we immediately get flooded with nostalgic memories. Sometimes we may even turn something on to play.

For today, we are just enjoying the view and letting the nostalgia wash over us. Hang on, that didn’t last long, we have a hankering to play some Amiga games on the CDTV! And perhaps pinball to finish up…….

We bet that when you think of SNK you think of the NEOGEO, however SNK was developing and publishing pretty decent arcade games well before the NEOGEO.

When the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection was announced earlier this year, we immediately took note, as we got quite excited at the prospect of playing SNK’s library of awesome classic games on our Nintendo Switch.

This collection represents SNK’s golden age of arcade games, a true arcade connoisseurs anthology, which is already proving quite popular in the office – we have to wait our turn on the shared Switch (Ed: perhaps we need to leave a coin on the screen!).

So which SNK games can you play straight away? The current list of titles, which is a mix of arcade and console ports, are a great start for the trip down memory lane:

Alpha Mission (Console/Arcade)

Athena (Console/Arcade)

Crystalis (Console)

Ikari Warriors (Console/Arcade)

Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road (Console/Arcade)

Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue (Console/Arcade)

Guerrilla War (Console/Arcade)

P.O.W. (Console/Arcade)

Prehistoric Isle (Arcade)

Psycho Soldier (Arcade)

Street Smart (Arcade)

TNK III (Console/Arcade)

Vanguard (Arcade)

But wait, there is more! On December 11, there will be an additional 11 games added (for free!) to the already packed collection – check out these beauties:

Munch Mobile (Arcade)

Fantasy (Arcade)

Sasuke vs. Commander (Arcade)

Chopper I (Arcade)

Time Soldiers (Arcade)

Bermuda Triangle (Arcade)

Paddle Mania (Arcade)

Ozma Wars (Arcade)

Beast Busters (Arcade)

Search and Rescue (Arcade)

World Wars (Arcade)

With regular patches being released to enhance gameplay experience (like the Day 1 patch adding ‘Single Stick’ mode amongst a raft of other improvements), this compilation truly gets better and better. The emulation has a few bumps here and there, but nothing that detracts from the overall gameplay experience – If you have never played these games or played them long ago, you would never notice. And as mentioned, patches are being released to tighten up any loose ends.

Speaking of user experience, the overall presentation is simply awesome, with an easy to use menu system that not only provides access to the arcade games with enhanced features (like rewind gameplay, auto-fire and 1080p resolution to name just a few), but also a brilliant museum mode where a lot of painstaking effort was made to catalogue and preserve the legacy of one of Japan’s leading developers, which includes high definition artwork and original promotional assets. We actually spent a lot of time in the museum going through each game and finding out information we could not find anywhere else – those of you that are into history and research will love this mode.

We are really glad that SNK chose to celebrate their extraordinary milestone by giving us, the gamers, a brilliant high quality compilation. The SNK 40th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION is packed full of retro gaming goodness with top-notch features with a complimentary museum mode which tops off what is an already solid package for those of you craving for nostalgia.

This is an essential collection to add to your Nintendo Switch games library. The only problem you’ll have is making the choice between physical or download – either way, you can’t go wrong!

Of course the area didn’t just cater for old school computer and console gamers, it had arcade machines from the golden age like Asteroids, Bad Dudes, Rampage, Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat 2, Rastan, Street Fighter II and a dozen pinball machines, from the new Stern Deadpool to the old High Roller Casino just to tickle your sentimentality without the need of extracting coins from your pocket!

Another section that made a return due to popular demand was the display museum. Standing along the right perimeter of the Classic Gaming area, the glass display cabinets created the perfect backdrop by showcasing carefully curated classic and exotic gaming pieces that invoked strong feelings of intoxicating nostalgia from gaming’s past. This of course was the intention the Classic Gaming team was going for.

With the area proving to be popular as ever, there was never an empty seat or a lonely controller – attendees took full advantage of playing on machines from their childhood and for those with families, it was great to see kids playing games that their parents would have enjoyed when they were their age. With smiles all around and a lot of positive feedback, we can safely say that the PAX Aus Classic Gaming area was a huge success.

So what will we have in store for you all in the Classic Gaming area at PAX Aus 2019? You will have to wait and see, but rest assured, we will definitely be tickling your nostalgic nerve.

The NEOGEO mini, the video game console that celebrates the 40th Anniversary of SNK’s brand has been revealed!The system will include 40 legendary and awesome NEOGEO titles!

The NEOGEO mini is a video game console, which will include 40 nostalgic titles from the NEOGEO system, which made its debut in 1990.

Rest of the world NEOGEO mini version

The NEOGEO mini will feature a 3.5 inch display, meaning the games can be enjoyed without the need to connect it to a TV or monitor! The size of the NEOGEO mini means it fits perfectly in the palm of your hand – just like the Atari Lynx does *wink*

The NEOGEO mini will be available in two different designs, one for the Asian market and the other one for overseas markets. With its design in black, white and red, the Japanese version of the NEOGEO mini will faithfully reproduce the original NEOGEO arcade cabinets that were introduced in Japan in 1990. The overseas version will be a simple and modern design in black, white and blue.

The Japanese NEOGEO mini version

SNK hasn’t released any more details, so we are keeping our peepers peeled to find out when these will be released and the confirmed games list!

So what do you think? We actually love the look of both units. Which one do you like?

This is HUGE news! Mark spring time (fall/autumn in the north) in your diary peeps, as the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection will be released on the Nintendo Switch.

For those of you that like their tangible games, there will be a physical SNK 40th Anniversary Collection Limited Edition that canbe pre-ordered now via the SNK Online Store.

Just in case you weren’t aware, SNK made heaps of awesome arcade games in the 80s before they went really big with their Neo Geo. To whet your retro gaming appetite, here are the announced SNK games you could (Ed: should!) be playing on your Switch, with more to come:

Alpha Mission (arcade + home versions)

Athena (arcade + home versions)

Crystalis

Ikari Warriors (arcade + home versions)

Ikari III: The Rescue (arcade + home versions)

Guerrilla War (arcade + home versions)

P.O.W. (arcade + home versions)

Prehistoric Isle in 1930

Psycho Soldier

Street Smart

TNK III (arcade + home versions)

Vanguard

Victory Road (arcade + home versions)

The Limited Edition comes in a Collector’s Box with all the games plus the “Nostalgic Music Collection” soundtrack and the “40th Anniversary Art Collection” hardcover art book.

Let’s celebrate SNK’s 40th anniversary by turning up the excitement level to 11!

When you grab hold of a tome by Bitmap Books you immediately feel its quality in your hands. Like every other Bitmap Books publication, the high standard in aesthetics extends to great content within.

We found that with each page turn of the NEO-GEO: A Visual History book our pupils were dilating in joy at the eye popping and gorgeous visuals (the photography and artwork throughout this book is simply sublime) and the content on each page, like the rare interviews with key SNK staff (Yasuyuki Oda, Tatsuhiko Kanaoka and Hideki Asanaka) and the brilliant master games list for NEO-GEO, among other great content, simply elevates the book to bible status.

It is easy to see that the NEO-GEO: A Visual History book was a labour of love for its creators. The loving and painstaking detail that has gone into each of the 400 pages makes the reader stop and absorb it all before turning to the next eye popping page. With SNK’s official blessing, this is the one and only definitive English language book you will ever need based on the great NEO-GEO video game line, from the MVS, AES, CD to the Hyper 64 and NEO-GEO Pocket systems, and the aforementioned master games list. This book will be a permanent fixture on your coffee table for ease of access to great content and reference (oh yeah, and to show off its beauty to your friends).

If you are a NEO-GEO fan (or even if you are not!) or know of someone that is a NEO-GEO fan, this book is an absolute MUST GET! With Christmas around the corner, you can’t go wrong with this as a gift for yourself or for that SNK fan you know will appreciate this fantastic publication.

If you can only buy one video games related book this year, then let me make your decision quite easy, get NEO-GEO: A Visual History now!